This invention relates to a process and an apparatus for loading a disposable camera with a photographic roll film, and to a disposable camera loaded with a photographic roll film.
Disposable cameras which are often referred to as single-use cameras are cameras in which a photographic film is first inserted, not by the end user of the camera, but by the manufacturer of the camera during the assembly thereof. The end user who acquires a disposable camera of this type delivers it, after using it according to the instructions, i.e. after taking a number of photographs, with the film which has been exposed image by image still contained in the camera, to a photographic developing and printing organisation, where the camera is opened in order to remove the exposed film contained therein and to develop and print the latter according to the instructions. After the film has been removed, the opened camera or parts thereof are sent from the developing and printing organisation for reuse or to a recycling process.
Diverse designs of disposable cameras of this type are known.
For example, EP 0 632 314 B1 discloses a disposable camera for a film cartridge and a photographic film of the 135 small image film system. This disposable camera comprises a core subassembly, a housing back part and a housing front part, wherein a central housing base part which protrudes at right angles and two basal flaps are fixed to the housing back part. The core subassembly comprises a film cartridge chamber for receiving a film cartridge, and a film supply chamber for receiving a loose film supply roll.
A disposable camera which is preferably constructed for the use of APS films and which comprises a core subassembly, a housing back part and a housing front part, is known from DE 196 00 270 A1, for example.
It is also known that disposable cameras can be equipped with a built-in flash device, as disclosed in EP 0 551 897 A1 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,486, for example.
Another disposable or so-called single-use camera is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,876.
A process and an apparatus for loading a disposable camera with film are also already known from the aforementioned EP 0 632 314 B1, wherein a film leader section which protrudes from a customary 135 film cartridge is grasped by means of a gripper-like tool and is suspended in a slot of a forked winding spindle. By rotating the latter about its axis, the film is continuously pulled out of the film cartridge as far as a predetermined film length and is wound on to a peripheral surface of the winding spindle, wherein the film cartridge and the winding spindle are disposed on a common, swivel-mounted support. When a predetermined film length has been wound on the winding spindle, the film cartridge and the film roll which is formed on the winding spindle are inserted in a film cartridge chamber or in a film supply chamber of a disposable camera by swivelling the common support, whereupon the film cartridge is separated from the common support, whilst the winding spindle is detached and pulled out of the film supply roll by the axial displacement of the film leader section disposed in the slot of the winding spindle. One edge of the film of the film supply roll is thus seated against a radially inwardly projecting, sickle-like collar on an inner face of the film supply chamber so that it is not pulled out when the winding spindle is pulled off axially. The film cartridge chamber and the film supply chamber of the core subassembly are closed from below in a light-tight manner by folding up basal flaps, which are fixed in the manner of hinges to the housing back part, to the underside of the core subassembly.
A film loading apparatus for the use of film cartridges and films of the APS film system is known from EP 0 965 877 A2, wherein a film is advanced from a film cartridge into a space for forming a film roll by means of an endless, flexible belt which is seated against edges of the film forming a frictional connection and which is driven in circulation by a driving device, wherein the film is entrained by the circulating belt.
The underlying object of the present invention is to provide a process and to create an apparatus for loading a disposable camera with photographic film in which the formation of a film supply roll from a photographic film contained in a film cartridge and the subsequent insertion of the film cartridge and of the film supply roll in a core subassembly of the disposable camera, as well as the subsequent completion of the core subassembly to form a complete disposable camera, is made possible in a particularly simple and reliable manner.
A further underlying object of the invention the object is to create a disposable camera which is of simple construction and which can reliably and efficiently be loaded with photographic film in a mass production operation.
These objects are achieved according to the invention by the features of claims 1, 7 and 32, respectively.
Further forms of the invention are given in the subsidiary claims which follow each of the aforementioned claims.